By Nick Kaoma
As a growing music publishing entity, Encore has set itself the goal of becoming the preeminnet source in Mzansi for music content. Today, our attempt in attaining that goal etches a notch closer. We bring you an exclusive interview with one of Mzansi's rising stars in the jazz circuit. I know I might scare you by the mere mention of jazz, but do not be shook, jazz is a music form that even young people should enjoy.
Furthermore, Moreira is one of those funky jazz artists that has set himself the goal of converting young people to this genre that has produced uber-cool musos such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sipho Gumede and Don Laka.
In this candid first part of the interview, the Mozambican-born saxophonist discusses his childhood influences, getting an honours degree in jazz performance and winning that coveted SAMA award for Best Producer. Here it goes:
So where did the love for music begin?
For me it’s very obvious, it started from my family. My family was very musical, in my household there were different musical influences and not just the saxophone. Especially from my dad. I began to know a lot of deep music staff that my peers were not exposed to. My father taught me to appreciate music from great artists such as Miles Davis and Hugh Masekela. My uncles also happened to influence me musically to a great extent, and the rest just came naturally.
Tell us about your musical odyssey, starting from when you decided to study music at UCT and up to now?[Graduated in 2000 with an Honours distinction in Jazz Performance]
I started playing at school; initially I was there just to keep out of trouble. While there I developed a passion for music, so when I dropped out later when I was 13 or 15 I went back on my own and I got a wake-up call. But when I was 17 I started to play the saxophone seriously; my teacher who taught me how to play the sax pushed me even more and slowly I started to master the instrument. And eventually when I decided to pursue it as a career I made the audacious journey of leaving Maputo, Mozambique to come and study music at UCT. As soon as I decided that music was going to be my career I made the conscious decision that I was going to become the best at it and wouldn’t accept anything less.
Coming to Cape Town was a fantastic decision for me as I ended up meeting and hanging around talented jazz musicians who served as inspiration for me. While studying jazz at UCT I also decided to do another degree in African Music so that I could brush up on my knowledge of my roots and the rich cultural and music heritage that Africa possesses.
What made you decide on the notoriously difficult instrument that is the sax?
The funny thing is the piano is actually one of my favourite instruments; I used to own a grand piano and I like to call it the most complete music instrument. As to why I chose the sax it goes to back to my upbringing. As I said, I grew up listening to a lot of trumpet players like Miles Davis, Masekela and saxophone players never really got to listen to enough guitarists or piano players.
In the era that I grew up the coolest jazz players were saxophonists and as a result that influenced my decision to play the sax. In retrospect, I would say the saxophone chose me instead of the other way around.
Would you say that school is imperative for an aspiring musician?
I think at the end of the day it is up to the individual, but if you’re going to study music the tricky question that you should ask yourself is, what are young going to school for? You have to determine beforehand what benefits you intend to derive from studying a particular course or degree. Thus, it is important that you find yourself first, and then you can determine if you need further training or not. So honestly in my opinion I don’t think it is absolutely necessary for one to go to school and study music. There are many examples of people in history who although never went to music school ended up becoming great musicians.
You won the SAMA award for best producer for your debut album, did you expect that?
I won’t lie to you man I didn’t expect that one, the competition was pretty stiff in that category. I thought that I would probably get a nod for Best Contemporary Album or Best Instrumental Jazz. I’m honestly in trouble [laughs] and under pressure, but good pressure because I’ve set a nice standard for myself that I’m going to have to maintain. The award was seriously unexpected though and I hadn’t even prepared a speech. It was an honour nevertheless.
Does that go down as one of your career highlights?
Yeah most definitely, you should have seen me that evening man I was going crazy from excitement… I really didn’t see it coming.
Let’s go into your album, The Moreira Project Vol. 1 the Journey, describe the journey that it took to craft this soul-stirring album, especially since it was released on your own record label?
Where the name is concerned, I actually just named the album Moreira Project Vol.1 and my partner called me and suggested that we add the Journey to the end as it typified the process and challenges that we faced in getting this product complete. So yeah, it was a hectic challenge putting the album together, but it was a journey that everybody who was involved in the process enjoyed.
You own your own record label, Morestar Entertainment, why did you take the conscious decision to produce, market and distribute your own music?
First I must say that me and my partner are insane by insisting on funding our own projects instead of going to one of the big record labels. So you have to be insane and have big cahunas to be able to pull of something of this nature. But I have learnt to live with the insanity [laughs]. It’s also a good feeling knowing that you were able to handle the entire production of your album and although we don’t have that million rand yet, the SAMA award that we received for the album puts us in good stead. The number of fans that we have also amassed is also encouraging.
Check out Part 2 of the interview in a later post.
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